Wire chain



(No Model.)

B. A. BREUL.

' WIRE CHAIN.

No. 359,054. Patented Mar. 8, 1887.

UNITED STATES 1 PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD A. BREUL, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

WIRE CHAIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 359,054, dated March 8, 1887.

Application filed January 10, 1887. Serial No. 223,875. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RICHARD A. BREUL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in l/Vire Chains; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use t-hesame.

My invention relates to the manufacture of chains, and has for its object to produce a chain the links of which are formed from independent pieces of wire, and are so interlocked in the process of manufacture as to produce at a minimum expense a chain having an ornamental appearance and so strong in every part that no amount of strain that can be applied short of breaking the metal itself shall be able to separate the links. With these ends in view I have devised the simple and novel chain of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

Figure 1 is an elevation of one side of the chain; Fig. 2, an elevation of the opposite side; and Fig. 3, an edge View, the upper portion thereof showing the links in section.

1 denotes the bow of the link, 2 the shank, and 3 the hooks. As already stated, each link is made from a single strip of wire, which may of course be made of any suitable metal and plated, japanned, or finished in any desired manner.

The uses to which I contemplate applying my improved chain are without limit. Its strength and cheapness adapt it admirably for all the uses to which what is termed plumbers and sash chain are applied, and when plated or made of finer grades of metal it makes an ornamental watch-chain. Each link is formed by curving the metal from the center of the blank or strip and bringing the ends toward each other. This portion I term the bow of the link. The two ends are brought close together, preferably touching or nearly touching each other, to form the shank 2 of the link. This shank is passed through the bow of the next link, bent around it and back upon itself. After being passed around the bow of the other link the ends are curved outward from each other and bent backward, and then curved inward around the opposite sides of the lower portion of the bow of the link, the extreme ends of the piece of wire of which the link is formed constituting hooks 3,which, as already stated, engage the opposite sides of the bow of the link, so that when strain is applied it is impossible to separate the links.

It will of course be understood that the exact shape of the bow, shank, 0r hooks of the link is not of the essence ofmy invention, the gist of which lies in the broad idea of curving the double shank of each link around the bow of anotherlink and forming hooks atthe ends, which engage the loop from the outer side, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2. It should be understood, furthermore, that the method of making the chain has nothing whatever to do with this application.

So far as my present invention-thatis, the chain itselfis concerned, it may be made in the manner described or in any suitable manner. It will be observed in Fig. 3 that the doubleshank of each link-that is, the portion which I have described as bent around the bow of another link-in fact forms eyes, which I have designated as 4.

It is apparent that the chain may be made bypassing each strip or blank of wirethrough the eye of the link last formed and then proceeding to form a new link.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- As a new manufacture, a chain consisting of links made from independent pieces of wire, each link being bent backward upon itself from the center to form a bow, the double shank passing through the bow of the next link, and the ends being provided with hooks which engage the opposite sides of the lower portion of the bow of the link of which they form a part.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

RICHARD A. BREUL.

Witnesses:

A. M. WOOSTER, O. E. RUGGLES. 

